Display's removal upsets veterans

February 19, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A VA hospital's decision to remove a framed newspaper with the headline "Japs Surrender" has sparked a nationwide letter-writing campaign among veterans, who say taking down the display amounts to an effort to whitewash history. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center director Tom Mattice said he removed the 1945 Indianapolis Times front page after receiving a complaint from a new employee offended by the term "Japs," a common slur during World War II. But a group of retired Marines says the action amounts to offering an apology that isn't due, and they want the artifact put back on the wall where it hung next to other World War II memorabilia for a decade. "We feel it's a slap in the face of the U.S. military. That newspaper is history, part of United States history," Ronald "Bud" Albright, commandant of the local Marine Corps League chapter and leader of the letter-writing campaign, told The Indianapolis Star for a story published Wednesday. The term "Jap" reflects the racial prejudice that was promoted during World War II. Such terms are often part of an effort to dehumanize the enemy, said Guy Burgess, a co-director of the Conflict Research Consortium at the University of Colorado. "If you think of them as humans, you can't do the things war compels you to do," Burgess said. Yet Japan has been a U.S. ally for decades, and it can be challenging to remain politically correct while staying true to history. Museums often strike a balance by pairing controversial displays with detailed explanations. The National World War II Museum's exhibit of propaganda posters, for example, includes captions that put the images into context. "You would never want to put up an object without interpreting it," said Kacey Hill, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans museum. Mattice argues the VA hospital is a different case and says he has contacted the VA's national ethics office for a ruling on how to proceed. "We are not a museum," he said. "A museum is where people go to understand the history. We are a medical center." He said he has asked a staff member to find a different front page that carries the news of the war's end in more delicate terms.